Health Benefits of Onions – The Best Home Need Ever

Chopping onions is probably the most hated task of cooking. While the hatred is justified and continued, it is still consumed universally. Onion belongs to the Garlic family of spices. While many prefer eating this spice cooked or boiled, we Indians love it raw. Scientifically, there are more health benefits of onion when eaten raw.

There are many types of onions available in the market, ranging from white, yellow to red and black onions. One of the red onion benefits is that it contains the highest amount of quercetin. Quercetin is the most powerful anti-oxidant present in onions. Black onion seeds are mostly used in tackling type 2 diabetes. Between the yellow and white onion, the latter is considered the most beneficial.

Nutritional Value of Onions:

Like most other veggies, onions are highly nutritious. They offer the most benefits when consumed raw and fresh. Another plus point being, there are no calories in onion. The onion nutrition includes vitamins C, B and K, mineral elements like iron, calcium, magnesium, and manganese. Phytochemicals, flavonoids, and sulfur make up the rest. All these help in making this spice quite useful in every field.

Let Me Show You the Numerous Health Benefits of Onions:

Reactive to Fever

There have been countless superstitions on how onions can be used to fake a high fever. Although I have never tried it, I can definitely state that onions can influence fever. That is, they can be used to break a high fever.

According to Ayurvedic texts, putting half an onion in the socks of a person suffering from high fever can help in curing the fever. This remedy has been supported by many people till date.

Blood Pressure

Onions can help lower blood pressure. Onions have a high amount of the flavonoid Quercetin. The red onions have been reported to have the highest amount of Quercetin among all the varieties of onions. This way red onions are more efficient in controlling the blood pressure. This use of onions is one of the most significant red onion benefits.

Zero Fats and Calories

Consumption of Quercetin has been claimed to lower bad cholesterol and, thus, reducing the blood pressure. The nutritional value of onion is high, but the calories in onion are null. This is one of the amazing onion health benefits for health.

Heart’s Health

Consuming raw onion is helpful in lowering the production of LDL (bad cholesterol). Control over the cholesterol level helps in keeping the heart healthy and pumping.

Stomach Cancer

According to some researchers, Quercetin plays a role in preventing stomach cancer.

Stops Nose Bleeding

A home remedy to treat nose bleeds involves the usage of onion. The simple home remedy requires you to place a freshly cut piece of onion under your bleeding nose. Inhale deeply. This should help in slowing down the bleeding.

Induces Freshness and Prevents Infections

Onions have anti-bacterial and anti-inflammatory properties. Due to these properties, onions can be used to prevent bad odor from your closets and even from your body. All you have to do is place a fresh raw piece of onion in the smelly closet. Another one of the many onions uses is the treating of feet infections. Wash your feet in water with onion slices. This will prevent bacterial and fungal infections.

Cures Bee Stings

Onion juice can be effective in treating bee stings. This home remedy involves applying some onion juice over the affected area. However, the wounded skin will burn more. Of course, sometimes, there is no gain without some pain, right?

For Insomnia Treatment

A daily intake of onions can help treating insomnia. Onions contain a suitable amount of folic acid which apparently helps in treating depression and insomnia.

Breath Freshness

Raw onions can be used in keeping one’s mouth healthy as well. All one has to do is chew a piece of fresh raw onion. Let me warn you beforehand; chewing onion can lead to stinky breath.

Collagen Production

Onions have a high content of Vitamins, especially Vitamin C and vitamin B. Vitamin C is needed by the body to produce collagen. Collagen is needed for the production of tissues and also to retain the elasticity of the skin.

Inflammation of Joints (Arthritis)

Since onions are anti-inflammatory in nature, they can be used to treat arthritis. Quercetin helps in controlling the inflammation of joints that is normally seen in the case of an arthritis patient.

Onion Benefits for Skin:

Helps in Lightening the Skin Tone:

Onion nutrition value is high. They have a great amount of vitamin C which is needed to repair tissues. Onions have quite a good number of antioxidants in it juice which help in lightening your skin tone. You can directly apply onion juice over your skin or combine it with honey to make a face mask. This way you can exfoliate and clean away the dead cells while improving your skin tone. If not, you can also add some onion juice and milk to flour to make a thick paste. Leave it on for some time, and while you remove the mask, scrub gently over the regions with excess dead skin. Other onion benefits include removal of tan and softening of the skin.

Helps to Remove Blemishes:

Onions like I have stated above, have an amiable amount of flavonoids and anti-oxidants. These chemical substances, when applied to the skin, can help in treating pigmentation of the skin and dark blemishes. There are many home remedies for removing pigmentation, one of which I am sharing here. Grate an onion and make it into a fine paste. To this add a few spoons of fatty yoghurt. Mix it well and apply it to your face. Gently massage your skin with your fingers. Yoghurt has skin lightening properties as well. Along with this, it will prevent any burning sensation that might otherwise take place on the direct application of onion juice.

Prevents Early Ageing:

There are more uses of onion for the skin. The high content of vitamins in onion along with the powerful anti-oxidants help in preventing the early signs of ageing. The vitamins fight the free radicles and counter the damaging effects of the UV radiations. The anti-oxidants help in protecting the skin from premature ageing.

Treating Acne:

Most of us suffer from the dreadful acne and pimples during our abrupt puberty. Well for those who wish to treat this problem without much hassle, I have the best home remedy possible. Onion juice has antimicrobial and anti-inflammatory properties.

Most of the time acnes are caused due to the irritation of the skin or due to microbial growth. Sometimes the excess heat from our body leads to the inflammation of our pores resulting in those monstrous pimples. For all of these, onion juice is a one stop solution. Apply a layer of onion juice with some olive oil onto your skin. It might burn a little the beginning, but it will be worth it. Most of you can see the results immediately after the second or third application.

Onion Benefits for Hair

Treating Your Hair Health:

Keeping your scalp healthy is as important as keeping your body healthy. An unhealthy scalp can be indicated by the presence of dandruff, loss of hair and itching. Sometimes the scalp gets invaded by lice. To treat these problems, onion is enough. Applying onion juice to the scalp will help in tackling all these problems. Onion juice along with cleaning the scalp also gets rid of the old dead skin which was leading to the formation of dandruff. Health Benefits of Onion are numerous, ranging everywhere from the skin to hair.

Helps in Improving Hair Thickness:

Hair loss is a problem every girl faces. The pollution, stress and our hectic lifestyle lead to hair loss. The thinning of her crown is something every girl wishes to avoid. If so, this spice here can help you out. Grate an onion and squeeze the juice out. You can directly apply this solution to your hair. Leave it on for one hour or so. Then wash it off. In another home remedy, a mask made up of onion juice and honey can be used.

Helps in lightening Hair Colour:

Onion has anti-oxidants and phytochemicals which help in lightening colour. Applying onion juice can help in lightening your hair colour. All you have to do is apply the solution onto your hair from the scalps to the ends. Leave it on for some time, like for about an hour or such and then rinse. Don’t shampoo immediately afterward as the nourishment from the onion will be lost. If you wish, you can shampoo the next day.

Makes the hair stronger:

Onion has a high content of vitamin C and vitamin B. These two are helpful in the production of tissues. A higher intake of these vitamins makes the hair stronger from the roots. They also help in repairing the damage that the hair suffer due to the pollution and such.

Well, these are few of the many health benefits of onion. Most of you must have already realized, just like I did, that apart from burning our eyes and giving a bad breath, onion seems to promote only good things. Hopefully, you can appreciate it now, though I still hate chopping onions. (Dipping the knife and onion once in water can apparently prevent the burning sensation we feel every time onions are cut J)

Written By

Kranthi Kumar Maska is an entrepreneur by profession and blogger by interest who loves to spread help through words. He loves to speak and write on health care and nutrition which persuaded him to study the subject in depth and earn a valid certificate in Food and health issued by Stanford University.
Kranthi is a travel freak and he loves to explore the world. He finds joy in little things and sweet nothings!
"The best in you comes out when you have nothing in your favour" is what Kranthi believes in. He has a lot of other creative interests, out of which writing is his love, and "Digital Marketing" is his passion.